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Ghostbusters: The Video Game is a video game based on the Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II published by Atari. The game was released on June 16, 2009 in the U.S. for all but the PlayStation Portable (PSP), which was released the day before Halloween 2009 and June 19 in Europe for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and PlayStation 2 (PS2) (However, the rest of the versions were released around late autumn 2009). The Official Game Guide Paperback was also released on the 16th.

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There are three major versions of the game released. One version uses a more realistic aesthetic while the other version uses a more stylized aesthetic. The third sporting a different all around gaming features including driving the Ecto-1. Both have the same basic story and same basic dialogue given by the actors. However, many ghosts are different, and the story reflects that in many spots.

The realistic version of the game by developers Terminal Reality was released for the following:

Each version of the game has its gameplay differences: Terminal Reality has the game play of their version as "Gears of War Light". Their version has a stricter emphasis on action than the version being developed by Redfly which makes use of puzzle elements. Another difference is that the Redfly version has optional local multiplayer for the entirety of the main game whereas the Terminal Reality version has included on-line multiplayer content separate from the main story. Both make use of Terminal Reality's proprietary "Infernal Engine" for advanced in-game physics that integral to game play. This is true especially in the Terminal Reality version because the amount of money earned for buying new equipment decreases the more the player makes use of the destructible environments. Conversely, special achievements, trophies, etc. will be awarded to players who take the time to destroy specific things and or all things.

The events of the game occur during Thanksgiving [3] 1991, two years after the events in Ghostbusters II and seven after Ghostbusters. Players portray a new recruit hired to test Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz's new equipment, during a recent rise of paranormal activity.

The game opens at the New York Natural History Museum. One of the museum's night guards is watching TV (where an ad for the Ghostbusters is running) rather than paying attention to the security monitors. His attention is suddenly gained however, when he notices a disturbance in the Gozer exhibit on one of the monitors. He notifies one of the guards on duty and orders him to investigate. As that guard checks the exhibit, a woman appears from the shadows and runs past him. Before he can stop her, he turns and is struck with a paranormal force which continues to spread throughout the city. The game then transitions to the firehouse where the player (as the Rookie) reports for their first day as a Ghostbuster. His introduction is cut short however, when that same paranormal force passes through the building and causes Slimer to escape from his visible containment unit. Knowing that Slimer would return to the Sedgewick Hotel, the Ghostbusters leave immediately to recapture him.

Upon their arrival, the Ghostbusters are confronted by the Manager of the Sedgewick who is naturally upset over the return of Slimer. The Ghostbusters proceed to capture him with the assurance that they are now bonded municipal employees, as well as that any damages will be paid for by the City of New York. Along the way they meet the mysterious woman from the Museum, but she is in no mood to chat. During their search for Slimer, the Ghostbusters discover that there are now multiple ghosts which are now inhabiting the Sedgewick Hotel and decide to investigate further. The amount of paranormal activity proves to be so great that they eventually call Dr. Winston Zeddemore in from his day off to aid them. When he finally arrives, however, he informs them that their troubles are far worse than anything the Ghostbusters had encountered before this.

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man had somehow returned to New York City. What's worse is that he is now capable of spawning small marshmallow creatures. The Ghostbusters fight their way past his "Marshmallow Minions" until they reach the top of a building where they discover that Stay Puft is attacking that same woman from the Museum and the Sedgewick. The Ghostbusters save her from any immediate harm, during which she reveals that her name is Dr. Ilyssa Selwyn. Selwyn is, apparently, an expert on Gozerian lore who was brought in to supervise the World of Gozer exhibit at the Museum. There isn't much time for conversation, however, because Stay-Puft is still laying waste to the city. The Rookie, along with Dr. Selwyn and the boys in grey head to the roof to distract Stay Puft while Drs. Spengler and Zeddemore ready a new type of trap attached to the Ecto-1. It turns out that the new trap isn't needed after all because the Rookie, Stantz and Venkman manage to defeat Stay Puft by knocking him to the ground and splattering across the block.

Back at the fire house, Dr. Spengler decides he would like to run some tests on Dr. Selwyn to determine why it was that Stay Puft (and presumably Gozer) were interested in her. However, they are soon visited by Mayor Jock Mulligan and Walter Peck. Mulligan explains that, due to pressure from City Council, he has assigned Peck to be the liaison between the City and the Ghostbusters as part of a new office called P.C.O.C. (pronounced peacock). Now, despite their animosity towards one another, Peck and the Ghostbusters are forced into a reciprocal relationship because they depend on one another for employment. Upon further discussion, the Ghostbusters agree that they should go investigate at the museum where the catalyst for the paranormal disturbance began. Before they can leave however, they receive a call from the New York Public Library and decide to stop there first on their way to the Museum.

At the New York Public Library, the Ghostbusters discover that the Grey Lady (a.k.a the first ghost the Ghostbusters ever encountered) is in possession of a Gozerian Codex and that it would be very useful should Gozer, in fact, be returning. Their investigation into the matter reveals that her name was once Elanor Twitty and she was the Chief Librarian there at one time. The details of her life are few but it is revealed that she was romantically involved with a gentleman known as "the Collector" because of his acquisition of many rare books. He used Ms. Twitty to gain access to rare materials but when she found out she left him. Enraged, "The Collector" murdered her. Now her spirit is bound to the library to protect the Gozerian Codex from the Collector. The Ghostbusters eventually find Ms. Twitty and capture her- but not without the suspicion that it was far too easy to do so. Their suspicions are confirmed when a "Spirit Door" is revealed, leading into the ghost world. The Ghostbusters travel through the ghost world until they come across the spirit of the Collector, who has taken the form of a giant worm with tendrils protruding from it. After a fierce battle the Ghostbusters are able to return to the real world. On arriving, they notice that there is some strange marking with 4 lights on the Door, but then one light goes out, indicating to them that whatever it was it must now be turned off. Knowing for certain that there must be something major occurring, the Ghostbusters then rush to the Museum to the get the answers they need to unravel this mystery.

At the Museum the Ghostbusters again find themselves embroiled in a full blown spiritual manifestation (possibly due to certain exhibits having been created by known Gozerian worshiper, doctor and architect, Ivo Shandor). They battle spirits of the various artifacts and spirits with new levels of power- namely, possessing the bodies of the living. Luckily the Ghostbusters have the Slime Blower Mk. II (loaded with the "mood slime" from Ghostbusters II) and are able to use it to dispel the spirits from their human hosts such as the one who had taken the body of Walter Peck. The Ghostbusters again noticed the strange symbol but with time with only two glowing lights on it. Their triumph is short lived, however, because Walter Peck, furious at the damage created and his being hosed down by slime, swears that he's going to revoke the Ghostbusters' license and shut down their containment grid. Again.

Back at the Firehouse the Ghostbusters know they don't have much time to solve the mystery of this phenomenon before Peck shuts them down. Dr. Selwyn mentions that she recognizes the symbol that the Ghostbusters had seen and explains that many of her colleagues believed it to be a constellation. They soon figure out that it is, in fact, a map of points where the spirit realm converges with the real world. Also, the points correspond to locations in New York City. One light was the Library, one was the Museum and the next one is back at the Sedgewick Hotel. So there they must return to close that portal and further learn the truth behind these events.

The Sedgewick Hotel is closed for repairs after the last visit from the Ghostbusters but they force their way in anyway. While inside they notice a number of spiritual imprints of people who had once lived and worked there going about their business as they had in life. Some were harmless but others were malevolent, such as the Spider Witch. The spirit of the Spider Witch, a woman who had lived in the hotel many years ago had trapped the Manager there and he explains to the Ghosbusters that they are now imprisoned too. Knowing that the only way to escape is to confront the Spider Witch, the Ghostbusters proceed to search for her though she has laid many tricks and traps to stop them. They learn that she lived in room 1221 (the same floor Slimer inhabited) and that it held a spirit door to the a secret 13th Floor. Dr. Spengler and the Rookie eventually find the Spider Witch, defeat her and shut down the doorway she is guarding, causing yet another light on the symbol to go dark.

The next place on the map is the middle of the East River. Luckily Dr. Stantz restored an old tugboat and commissioned it as the Ecto-8 for just such an emergency. Going to the spot on the map, the Ghostbusters find themselves on an island, upon which is Shandor Castle, the home of the late Ivo Shandor which had disappeared beneath the water mysteriously after his death. Upon landing the Ghostbusters are ambushed by a number of spirits and the earth shakes open, causing the Rookie to plummet below. He awakes soon after and realizes that he must find the other Ghostbusters. Working his way up from the depths of Shandor Castle, he discovers that this castle has been producing large quantities of slime and may in fact be the source of the rivers of slime which ran beneath the streets of New York during the resurrection of Vigo the Carpathian two years prior. He works his way up further to find the other Ghostbusters have been captured but soon frees them. They are forced to fight a young Sloar, a creature made entirely of the mysterious slime, who is the guardian of the last spirit door. This is not before they notice a painting on the wall of a woman who looks surprisingly like Dr. Selwyn. They quickly defeat the Sloar which causes the magic keeping Shandor Castle afloat to dissipate. The island begins to sink again, and the Ghostbusters make a run back to Ecto-8 and escape before Shandor Castle is again consumed by the waves.

Upon returning to the firehouse, the Ghostbusters learn that Dr. Selwyn has been kidnapped and the containment grid has been shut down. Knowing that Peck had threatened to do this, they reason that it was he who was behind this all along and that he has kidnapped Dr. Selwyn. Hearing that paranormal activity is increasing in Central Park, the Ghostbusters decide to go there to search for Dr. Selwyn and Walter Peck. Once the Ghostbusters arrive they are forced to deal with many different types of powerful spirits traveling through and under graveyards in their quest. They eventually release a portal into the ghost world and come upon a large castle. The Ghostbusters fight their way inside to confront Peck but discover that both Dr. Selwyn and Peck are restrained and that the mastermind behind it all was none other than Mayor Jock Mulligan, who was possessed by the spirit of Ivo Shandor. Shandor had decided that Gozer was unfit for his worship and that he himself shall be the destroyer. However, he failed to merge the real world and the ghost world through the power of the spirit doors. There was another way for him to claim godliness, however. Through enough spiritual turbulence and the blood of his own line (Ilyssa), Ivo Shandor could ascend the levels of being a mere mortal's spirit to that of a god. But before he could perform his sacrifice he was weakened by the Ghostbusters and thrown back into a deep ghost world, with the Ghostbuster taken along for the ride. Atop the steps of an otherworldly temple, the Ghosbusters are now again faced with the need to cross their proton streams and seal Shandor away permanently. The force of doing so throws them back into the real world where they revive Dr. Selwyn and Mayor Mulligan and release Walter Peck.

The game then ends with Dr. Venkman finally having won the affection of Dr. Selwyn and saved the world from destruction. But with the spirit realm pushed back there just isn't enough work to support five Ghostbusters. In light of this, Dr. Venkman offers the Rookie a franchise opportunity in another city such as Chicago, Cincinnati, or Los Angeles. Slimer escapes again and flies into the screen as the Ghostbusters theme starts to play and the credits begin.

Sony was looking for a developer of their own to create a Ghostbusters game. Vivendi Universal took on the project with developer Terminal Reality. Around 2005-2006, a prototype demo was created in the style of Resident Evil game play. It was a hotel level where the player had to track Slimer with a P.K.E. Meter. Slimer would zoom past, a woman would scream, and Slimer would reappear with a towel on. The demo didn't test well because people wanted to shoot. [4] Terminal began working on the first build but were not allowed to talk about the game at all until October 2008. Development on the game was kept secret. A few months later, coincidentally, Zootfly tried to get Sony to green light their Ghostbusters game. Sony declined and Zootfly, without permission, released the demo on January 10, 2007. Sony quickly had them take the demo down. [5] Ultimately, ZootFly will be instead developing a similar game named TimeO based on their Ghostbusters prototype.

In an interview on a television show, Ghostbusters creator Dan Aykroyd confirmed that the game is essentially Ghostbusters III. The previously mentioned "Ghostbusters In Hell" plotline often associated with a third movie is not being used for the game, although Aykroyd previously announced the possibility of a computer-generated film based on that script. However, Aykroyd also claimed this game will feature elements of that script while being treated as a computer-generated film.

Texas based Redfly Studios was approached to create a version for the Nintendo Wii, although they were currently under way with another Wii project called "Mushroom Men: The Spore Wars", They knew it was too great an opportunity to pass on. Once having accepted the task, Redfly decided that doing a direct port of Terminal Reality's version would be infeasible due to the relative lack of processing power of the Wii. Instead they chose to create a new game from the ground up using a more stylized cartoon aesthetic. The game itself however will share the same story, plot points, music and voice acting as the version being developed by Terminal Reality.

Game Informer December 2007 Cover

In November 2007, Game Informer magazine revealed its December cover, which sported the Ghostbusters logo, announcing a "world exclusive premiere" of the game. The first actual gameplay video (taken from the Xbox 360 build)
was shown on G4TV's X-Play, featuring a level where the player (partnered with Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz) chases Slimer around the Sedgewick Hotel. Other characters who have been confirmed to appear in the game in the magazine from the first film are the librarian ghost and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and from the second film, Vigo and the Scoleri Brothers.

On May 9, 2008, Spike TV aired an episode of GameTrailers featuring a story on the game. They confirmed features such as the Slime Tether device and an appearance by Gozer.

Around the beginning of July 2008, Bill Murray recorded lines after numerous cancellations. Up until that point, it wasn't known if he was going to be part of the game. Ernie Hudson and Dan Aykroyd recorded some of the lines he didn't. The development team had several back-up plans such as Peter moving to Paris with Dana Barrett.[6][7]

On July 28, 2008 Activision Blizzard (the publisher of Vivendi's and Sierra's titles) announced that only five franchises would be released through Activision. Ghostbusters was not one of them and was put in developmental limbo following the announcement. The Sierra PR team later confirmed that the game was not and would not be canceled.

In October 2008, Variety reported that Atari had purchased the rights to publish the game. Ending months of speculation, Infogames announced on November 7, 2008 that Atari would be releasing the game in June 2009 to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the first film's theatrical release.

In April 2009, it was revealed that the game in Europe would be released by Sony instead of by Atari (for PS3 and PS2) and that the others system versions would be delayed till fall.

The main idea for a sequel to Ghostbusters: The Video Game was to transition to a new team in a new city with Ray Stantz acting in a kind of mentor capacity. The sequel happening was more or less linked to if a new movie was going to get made at the time. [8] There were many concepts and a few levels were scripted. [9]

Internally, the Terminal team wanted the game to be Ghostbusters III. Aykroyd and Ramis considered it to be the third film. There was a logo made. Sony Pictures wouldn't allow it. At the time, they didn't want that tied to a game. [12]

The budget of the game was at least $30-40 million but it is unknown how much was paid to the voice talents total. [13]

Peter suggests the Rookie test the prototype Proton Pack because the Firehouse's mortgage is still in Ray's name,[14] a nod to the first film.

Just before the Psi Energy Pulse hits, Peter mentions he doesn't want to know the Rookie's name as things didn't end so well for a previous hire.

Peter refers to the first case "I've seen this one before" but still ends up getting slimed by Slimer.

It may actually be seven because of the 5 years between Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II along with the 2 years between G2 and Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

Though it is possible that they revisited the Sedgewick after they were once again allowed to legally investigate and capture the paranormal during Ghostbusters II. The Mood Slime was able to rise ghosts in anything and anywhere where death had occurred. This would also link with the lines said to the discussion between Peter, Ray, and John O'Keefe, the hotel manager, regarding multiple invoices during the Ghostbusters Video Game.

Or they did do multiple busts at the Sedgewick up to 1986, evidenced by Ray mentioning "invoices" and the Sloth Ghost being held in the Containment Unit (in the Realistic Versions). An exact date is never stated in Ghostbusters II when the Ghostbusters were served the judicial restraining order. "5 Years Later" simply refers to the amount of time between films.

Egon reminds Peter of the "Ellis Island Incident" after the Manager refuses to allow Peter and the Rookie into the Alhambra Ballroom. This is a reference to the animation of the Statue of Liberty in Ghostbusters II.

At the beginning of "Checking out the Library" (realistic versions) and between "Museum of (Super)Natural History" and "Return to the Sedgewick" (stylized versions), Egon reveals the reason he's had so much time to invent new equipment is due in part to an experiment he's conducting. He only sleeps an average of 14 minutes a day.

During the Museum level the destruction of certain crates reveals purple lights similar to those seen after the Containment Unit is shut down in the first Ghostbusters film.

Winston tells Peter about Ray's possession and refers to his first possession by Vigo in Ghostbusters II, implicitly. In the stylized version, Winston mentions the "Vigo" incident further in the museum level, after gate 3487 is opened.

In the Realistic Version of "Lost Island Rising," Peter thinks the Black Slime and Imprisoned Juvenile Sloar smells like the Fulton Fish Market. In the Stylized Version, Peter makes the Fulton reference as several Black Slime Scuttlers rush towards him, Winston, and the Rookie.

↑Wallace, Daniel (2015). Ghostbusters The Ultimate Visual History, p. 205. Insight Editions, San Rafael CA USA, ISBN 9781608875108. Mark Randel says: "We had lot's of concepts for a sequel and had a few levels scripted, but a sequel never materialized."

↑Ghostbusters Fans skankerzero reply 6/5/16skankerzero says: "It did well enough but I remember one of our assistant producers telling me about a year and a half later that it finally made it's money back. Most hit games make their money back in the first month."